FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT COMPUTER SOFTWARE - PAGE 4

NEW DELHI: The forthcoming budget may bring cheer to India's 10,000-crore information technology industry as the finance ministry is keen to resolve ambiguities over taxation of software. "We will try to clarify some aspects of software taxation," a government official familiar with the discussions on the issue told ET. Although, the finance ministry made several attempts in the past to clear the haze over software taxation, its moves have failed to satisfy the industry.

NEW DELHI: India's IT industry has found a special mention in the United Nations Economic and Social Survey (Escap) which highlighted the $10 billion sales revenue and 92,000 new jobs created by the sector in a matter of just 10 years. Terming the performance of Indian infotech industry as a "success story", the survey said the Indian government has played an important role in providing critical inputs and removing major bottlenecks in the path of software development in order to achieve the export target of $50 billion by 2008.

MUMBAI: Companies formed after 1986 in India have not been able to grow sufficiently to make a difference to the Indian economy, according to a study of the Indian corporate sector by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Based on financial analysis of audited accounts of over 6,000 companies, the study finds that the young companies have grown in numbers but they are still small in size. They collectively accounted for only nine per cent of sales in 2000-01. Nearly 15 years after the first round of liberalisation that began in 1986 and ten years later in 1991, the old firms of the pre-1971 era continue to dominate the Indian corporate world in every measure of economic size, CMIE said in a release here today.

NEW DELHI: North Block's silicon sop on fringe benefit tax won't bring any relief for the BPO circuit. According to analysts and consultants, the finance minister's announcement on FBT only offers a tax sop to computer software. This segment will now have to pay 5% rather than 20% FBT on travel. The ITES segment, which had cheered the proposal earlier this week, has actually been left out of this relief loop. Which means, like manufacturing, BPOs too will have to cough up 20% FBT on employee tour and travel bills.

NEW DELHI: Software exporters have yet another pre-poll sop. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has allowed income tax benefits under section 80HHE on profits earned from onsite development of software from April 1, 1991. The board has issued a circular today broadly saying that the benefit under 80HHE ? which allows a tax deduction on software exports ? will be available on profits and gains derived from onsite development of software (including services for development of software)

NEW DELHI: Software exporters have been given yet another pre-poll sop. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has allowed income-tax benefits under 80HHE on profits earned from onsite development of software from April 1, 1991. The board issued a circular today broadly saying that the benefit under 80HHE ? which allows a tax deduction on export of software ? would be available on profits and gains derived from onsite development of software (including services for development of software)

NEW DELHI: The text-lead Indian education system has started yeilding results. At present, second to the United States, India has the largest number of certified professionals in nine skills including IT, finance and healthcare. These nine key categories are computer software; essential skills, including basic literacy, mathematics, interpersonal communications and basic computer skills; financial; healthcare; industry knowledge; IT; language and communication; management; and office skills.

NEW DELHI: The government plans to extend the tax concessions enjoyed by technology parks and 100% export-oriented units (EOUs) beyond March 2010, a government official said. The commerce department and the IT ministry are jointly lobbying for a three-year extension of the tax concessions offered to the software & technology parks of India (STPI) to ensure a steady flow of investments into the sector. A case is also being made for the continuation of sops to 100% EOUs to make the country's exports more competitive in the global market.

NEW DELHI: North Block's silicon sop on fringe benefit tax (FBT) won't bring any relief for the BPO circuit. According to analysts and consultants, the finance minister's announcement on FBT only offers a tax sop to computer software. This segment will now have to pay 5% rather than 20% FBT on travel. The ITES segment, which had cheered the proposal earlier this week, has actually been left out of this relief loop. This means, like manufacturing, BPOs too will have to cough up 20% FBT on employee tour and travel bills.

BANGALORE: Leading international finance magazine 'Global Finance' has ranked Bangalore-based Wipro the "Best company in the Computer Software sector in Asia" in its annual world's best companies, 2002 survey, a company release said on Saturday. The award would be presented at a special ceremony in New York next month, it said. The company quoted the magazine as saying that Wipro, India's biggest software company by market capitalisation, has been a solid performer in a tough market.